Race Date: Sunday 25 June 2023

As replacement for the cancelled Doncaster Half Marathon, this event is part of the club’s road race championships although, with a 2x1hour speed camera infested drive and many opting for an extended fartlek over Sheffield’s Round Walk the same weekend, numbers were down on those often to be seen collecting points. Lying on the NW outskirts of Huddersfield, Lindley is squeezed up against the Pennines with contours a significant feature of the local landscape. With registration in a local pub the event had a community feel with a children’s fun run, which took place before the main event allowing everyone to enjoy it, together with a DJ playing abominable music and a large crowd at the finish.

The first two miles is basically uphill, climbing some 250ft to the rural outskirts before a three mile descent of about 500ft takes the field almost back to Huddersfield town centre and knocking that last mile at Dam Flask into a cocked hat. Some simple arithmetic informs that there is 250ft of climb over the last mile or so with some rather steep inclines. A look at Strava reveals that many struggled here although some also found the descent difficult to handle and not taking full advantage of the incline. Despite the 9:30am start, conditions were somewhat warm with reports of competitors in distress along the route and at the finish.

This event again demonstrates the difficulties of putting on small scale club events (entry fee £10) as for two thirds of the route competitors were asked to run on the pavement having to deal with uneven surfaces, dropped kerbs, pedestrians and turning/emerging vehicles at junctions. With ever increasing motor traffic and increasingly risk adverse authorities it seems that only big budget enterprises are able to afford the costs of road closures.

First woman home was F50 Sarah Cumber (Halifax) 41.08 whilst first man home was Matthew Pierson (Stadium) in 34.08. The severity of the course and conditions can be gauged by the fact that both winners have run three minutes quicker for 10k recently whilst only eight of the 439 field (last place walked home in over two hours) ran under forty minutes.

Times and positions for the Steel City’s finishers appear below together with a link to the full results. Lindley 10k Results 2023